The present invention relates to a connector for use with a cable which connects a circuit board used in a personal computer or the like or a personal computer or the like to a peripheral device.
Connectors for use with cables which connect circuit boards used in personal computers or the like or personal computers or the like to peripheral devices include a plug connector as a male connector and a receptacle connector as a female connector. The receptacle connector comprises reception contacts that are generally made of a conductor and a case made of insulating synthetic resin and housing the reception contacts fixed therein. The case has a body to which the contacts are fixed and a tubular hood extending forward from the body. The plug connector also has a case made of insulating synthetic resin as with the receptacle connector, and also includes insertion contacts fixed to the case with an intermediate member sandwiched between the contacts and the case.
Since the case of each of the connectors is generally molded of insulating synthetic resin by a mold, the hood may possibly be contracted inwardly as shown in FIG. 6(a) of the accompanying drawings or spread outwardly as shown in FIG. 10(a) of the accompanying drawings when the synthetic resin shrinks after the case has been molded.
If the hood of one of the connectors is distorted, then the distorted hood interferes with the hood of the other connector when the connector is connected to the other connector, making it difficult for the connectors to be connected to each other.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved connector, and more specifically to provide a connector which allows the hood of a case thereof to be corrected out of a distortion that the hood is suffering, and hence which can easily be connected to another connector.
To achieve the above object, there is provided in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention A receptacle connector for connection to a plug connector, characterized by a case of insulating synthetic resin comprising a body having a plurality of through holes extending from a front face to a rear face thereof and arranged transversely, and a tubular hood projecting forward from the body, being open in its front face, and having an interior communicating with said through holes, a pair of upper and lower reception contacts made of a conductor, inserted in said through holes, and arranged along upper and lower inner wall surfaces of said hood, and a fitting member fitted in said body between the upper and lower reception contacts and fixing said contacts to said case, wherein when said hood is distorted, the fitting member having a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the distortion of the hood is installed to deform said body to correct said hood out of the distortion.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a plug connector for connection to a receptacle connector, characterized by a case of insulating synthetic resin comprising a body having a pair of upper and lower through holes extending from a front face to a rear face thereof and arranged transversely, a tubular hood projecting forward from the body, being open in its front face, and having an interior communicating with said through holes, and an intermediately member projecting from said body into said hood and separating an interior of the hood into upper and lower spaces, a pair of upper and lower insertion contacts made of a conductor, inserted in said through holes and arranged along upper and lower surfaces of said intermediate member, and a pair of upper and lower fitting members fitted between said insertion contacts and said body and fixing said contacts to said case, wherein when said hood is distorted, the fitting member having a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the distortion of the hood is installed to deform said body to correct said hood out of the distortion.
With the connectors according to the first and second aspects, even if the hood of the case is distorted, the fitting member deforms the body to correct the hood out of the distortion, thus shaping the hood into a distortion-free state. When the connectors are connected to each other, they can easily be connected to each other because the hood of one of the connectors does not interfere with the hood of the other connector.
Preferably, said fitting member comprises members corresponding to the distortion of said hood which are selected from a plurality of members having different cross-sectional shapes and assembled transversely together.
The case is often distorted differently if a different mold is used to mold the case. With the connectors according to the present invention, even when a different mold is used to mold the case with a different distortion, since members corresponding to the distortion of the case can be selected and assembled into the fitting member, the case can easily be corrected out of the distortion without producing a new fitting member corresponding to the distortion of the case.